Being a professional in this industry can sometimes bring an unwarranted negative image. The perception of finance and investment banking professionals often attracts blame for issues such as the financial crash in 2008.

In order to overcome this stigma, professionals in the finance and investment banking industry should look towards increasing their personal brand and changing people’s mind through positivity.

I asked the personal-branding expert Talaya Waller what she recommends and finds of value for personal (i.e. professional) branding. Here is what she said: "As a newly published researcher, I’ve encouraged my colleagues to make sure they create an account and complete a profile on Google Scholar. You can connect with other researchers and see where your work has been cited. You can network with other scholars as well. In addition, every professor should think about having a professional landing page online outside of their university. They can use their site to publish their unpublished and published work, solicit other thought leaders in their field, and have a method of contact for researchers to ask them about their work."

As is the case with most professions, finding success as an actor requires self-promotion, strategic marketing, and personal brand development. Gone are the days of open casting calls and scouting malls in L.A. and New York. Instead, casting agents today are scouring social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter for new talent. Even more than talent, what agents are looking for is engagement; they’re looking to see what kind of following you have and what your other interests are. A recent study found that talent only accounts for roughly 7% of casting decisions. Clearly, with this new casting climate, it is crucial that aspiring actors have a consistent presence on social media. An aspiring actor cannot afford to disregard the leg up that social media provides towards getting discovered; actors need to use these platforms to establish their personal brand and showcase their talent.

Your first order of business should be to create an authentic brand that will attract a following and stand out to casting agents. Although the goal of this endeavor is ultimately self-promotional, you should strive to be genuine when creating an online presence. Don’t be afraid to show your real personality. Use YouTube videos, photos on Snapchat or Instagram, and frequent posts on Facebook and Twitter to create an authentic online persona. Demonstrate what makes you unique as an actor and as a human being.

Think of social media is an easy way to self-publish. With some effort and ingenuity, you can showcase your talent, putting your brand in front of an infinite online audience. Find a way to create content around your skills that demonstrate your interests and abilities. For example, try creating a short film that highlights your acting and directing talents and posting it on your YouTube channel, then advertise it on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure you create content that is unique and authentic to your personal brand.

Consistency is key. The nature of social media dramatically levels the playing field; while in many ways this can be advantageous to you, it also increases the competition. Take the long view and remember that stardom doesn’t happen overnight. You need to put your efforts towards curating a large following and, to do that, you have to consistently generate high quality, engaging content on select platforms. Don’t overextend; you don’t need to be everywhere. Choose which platforms you intend to focus on and show up.

Don’t forget that social media platforms are not just a one-sided conversation. Engage with your audience and tailor your message to speak to their interests. If you are using multiple platforms, adjust your content accordingly. Each platform is geared towards a slightly different audience and application. Your content should be enticing and relevant. Use your platforms to reach out to other aspiring actors as well. Each aspiring actor on social media has their own network of connections. Find someone whose work you admire and seek them out. Collaborate on a project to stimulate creativity, build professional connections, gain experience, and increase traffic to your social media sites.

The word “branding” literally refers to burning insignia, initials, or a logo onto a product. The term has been used for cattle, pottery in ancient times, and now it indicates the indelible mark you personally make on the products and services you are marketing.

The idea of branding, as it more closely relates to industry, arose in the 1800’s when manufacturers, who had been personally selling goods within their own communities, began shipping products to sell elsewhere. The products had to fend for themselves without the manufacturer there to explain or promote it. 19th century manufacturers developed the ideas of publicity and advertising in their efforts to build name consciousness and product loyalty.

Rich Bellis, Associate Editor for Fast Company writes:"You already know social media is a handy job-search tool. You dutifully update your LinkedIn account and scrub your Facebook profile of incriminating photos. But what you might not realize is that your approach to social media should change as your career moves forward. What works for landing that first-ever job won’t be the same thing that gets you promoted to VP.

The same way you should shift focus on developing different skill-sets at each stage of your career, you’ll also want to periodically retool your social media approach. Fast Company spoke with Washington, D.C.–based personal branding consultant Dr. Talaya Waller to find out how."Read more

When you focus on social media engagement, you are trying to increase the interactions that you are sharing with your followers. Yes, more likes (and shares) usually means more exposure. Yet, for most business professionals the purpose of their online presence strategy is to market themselves to a select target audience. This is an upgrade from a general audience simply “liking” what you are posting. Social media engagement allows you to build relationships through sharing content with select industry peers, clients, and/or constituents. From this point you can start to build meaningful, long-lasting professional relationships with those online connections.

When using social media we need to answer this question: “How can I use this to build relationships AND get measurable results in my professional life?" Below are tips on how to use social media engagement to network and build relationships to accomplish your professional goals.

Now more than ever, employers expect your personal brand to be consistent with their company’s vision and values. As a result, proactively managing your digital persona is something that can result in more pay or better profits. While you are planning and preparing for a better 2015, set aside time to make some personal branding resolutions. Here are my top 3 personal branding resolutions as we begin 2015.